The forehead stuff you can hardly see, but the shoulder area, there's a permanent "wound" the size of a loonie or bigger. It's squishy and darker than the rest of me. Doesn't hurt.

I saw a cranky (!) dermatologist at St. Mike's about something else...turned out to be nothing. Then I asked him to look me over....when I showed him my shoulder, he referred me to a fancy plastic surgeon on Avenue road. Because he was so cranky, I didn't ask a lot of questions. Probably I get a skin graft? Local anaesthetic?

A nice thing about support groups is sharing the same ailments:-a woman on Mood Garden (I recommend it!) is getting cancer removed from her nose...she sometimes posts "before" and "after" pictures.-she also had plantar fasciitis, like me

Saw the plastic surgeon today. She has to "make an even bigger hole" than my current one with 3 stitches on my shoulder. I have basal cell cancer according to the biopsy.

All these years (I was told.....25 years ago or so) that I had melanoma on my face (tiny spots) and shoulder........ I have basal cell cancer on my shoulder.

It turns out basal cell cancer is common, and the least (?) dangerous type of skin cancer. The plastic surgeon said that if my shoulder was untreated, not much negative would happen - it's rarely fatal.

I count my blessings - my treatment is outpatient, none of this hurts, is covered by OHIP, very little blood. But I am in shock somewhat. That'll go away.

Went to plastic surgeon yesterday. She took out my stitches - no more surgery! (but there's the odd loose end which is too technical for me)

I have to be careful with my shoulder, and should be able to exercise in a couple of weeks.

Re the fungus (?) on my legs, the prescription cream stops working after two weeks, so I stopped it. Not sure if it helped. This dermatologist is in Europe for 3 weeks, and maybe hasn't even seen the biopsy the nurse took. Maybe I need an oral antibiotic if it's a fungus?